Yes, very easy to drive
Focal Celestee Review & Measurements
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frix
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When will those be available across europe? (Germany)
Headphones.com (America) says they receive their shipment on the 18th so probably similar to you guys? I know Son-video in France has already shipped a few, people in Netherlands have bought from there and received already.
pkcpga
1000+ Head-Fier
My Focal’s (Utopia and Stellia) can be driven by a portable device. They do sound much better with a better source like a chord mojo or dap over a phone dongle. And continue to sound better with dedicated amp and dac. So they source up well but can be driven easily power wise.
My local supplier UK haas them, says I can get them for tomorrow...Yikes its tempting
Do it.. You won't be disappointed
Gamerlingual
Headphoneus Supremus
Any word when these will come to Japan?
frix
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Do it for the team. I'm still waiting for heimkinowelt.at to ship them. At least they changed the status to approx. 14days. But anyways disappoited about the false former "in stock" status.
EDIT: Reported to be deleted. Initial impressions copied to main Celestee thread.
Just got the Celestee in and have been listening for about 30 minutes through PC --> iFi micro iDSD BL --> Jotunheim 2 (SE out). Unfortunately, I don't have a balanced cable in for them yet, nor am I able to use my main system as I am confined to one room of my house because of COVID.
First impressions they're very "clean" sounding: almost like a closed, super-HD600 with more detail and better bass extension. Tonally, they're slightly more metallic than the HD600... What else would you expect from Focal?
Those hoping for a warm sound will probably be disappointed but they have a much better tonal balance than the Radiance, which could sound very unnatural with some music. My reference for neutral are the Sundara and Utopia and I would classify the Celestee as a neutral headphone.
The upper midrange hole of the Elegia has been fixed.
There seems to be a fairly wide dip in the lower midrange, which helps give a sense of clarity, but at the expense that it sounds less "full" (cooler) than the HD600, Sundara, and Utopia that I mentioned before.
In "The Peppery Man" by Natalie Merchant, the low, male voices are there, but lack the depth and weight that I have come to expect from a neutral headphone.
The dip in the lower midrange helps keep the bass from interfering with the midrange, but it goes a little far and can make the bass sound slightly detached.
The closest frequency response I've heard from a closed back would be the (then) MrSpeakers Aeon Closed (original) but the Celestee is a step up in nearly every regard.
The bass is missing the slam that Focal is so good at with their open-backs. They come across as a bit flat sounding.
Imaging is good but the soundstage is wider than it is deep.
More listening to come and hopefully with better gear.
Just got the Celestee in and have been listening for about 30 minutes through PC --> iFi micro iDSD BL --> Jotunheim 2 (SE out). Unfortunately, I don't have a balanced cable in for them yet, nor am I able to use my main system as I am confined to one room of my house because of COVID.
First impressions they're very "clean" sounding: almost like a closed, super-HD600 with more detail and better bass extension. Tonally, they're slightly more metallic than the HD600... What else would you expect from Focal?
Those hoping for a warm sound will probably be disappointed but they have a much better tonal balance than the Radiance, which could sound very unnatural with some music. My reference for neutral are the Sundara and Utopia and I would classify the Celestee as a neutral headphone.
The upper midrange hole of the Elegia has been fixed.
There seems to be a fairly wide dip in the lower midrange, which helps give a sense of clarity, but at the expense that it sounds less "full" (cooler) than the HD600, Sundara, and Utopia that I mentioned before.
In "The Peppery Man" by Natalie Merchant, the low, male voices are there, but lack the depth and weight that I have come to expect from a neutral headphone.
The dip in the lower midrange helps keep the bass from interfering with the midrange, but it goes a little far and can make the bass sound slightly detached.
The closest frequency response I've heard from a closed back would be the (then) MrSpeakers Aeon Closed (original) but the Celestee is a step up in nearly every regard.
The bass is missing the slam that Focal is so good at with their open-backs. They come across as a bit flat sounding.
Imaging is good but the soundstage is wider than it is deep.
More listening to come and hopefully with better gear.
Last edited:
Hphones887
BannedAKA GNR4EVER
does anyone know how much Focal charges for a Clear's driver if it no longer works? do they even bother to fix them?
malazz123
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sorry for the out context of this thread topics , i just can;t decide between celestee and lcdX ...
damn it would be nice if i can have these two lol
damn it would be nice if i can have these two lol
Aren't they a bit too different for a comparison?
Celestee is super easy to drive, closed and mobile oriented, pretty comfy too actually.
I feel like LCD-X does not really fit with the category celestee puts itself into.
Haven't heard the LCD-X but just soundwise I would pick it instead of Celestee.
I think you need to ask yourself the following questions and the decision might be easier to make:
Do you need a closed-back headphone or is open-back okay? / Do you need isolation and little sound-leakage?
Are you okay with using EQ?
The Celestee has a more natural timbre and midrange presentation out of the box, but neither is perfect all the way through the spectrum. I find the LCD-X to be the more technically capable headphone but its tonal balance (through the midrange especially) is completely wonky and needs adjustment.
Are you comfortable with heavier headphones?
The LCD-X (600g) weighs almost 50% more than the Celestee (430g).
Do you have/will you get a capable amp?
The Celestee is very easy to drive but the LCD-X has moderately low sensitivity and will need amplification.
frix
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schwibbles do you prefer the celestee over the A2C Noire?
That's hard to answer but I think so. I'm currently trying to decide which one to keep since I don't need both, and I'm really struggling. I'm leaning Celestee at the moment.
The Noire is much harder to drive which could potentially be an issue on-the-go.
The Celestee is more genre agnostic than the Noire IMO; more jack of all trades but master of none.
I prefer the Noire for modern rap, pop, and some rock because of the more v-shaped sound signature and I don't care about timbre as much with those genres (at least rap and modern pop). Listening to some Post Malone on the Noire right now and it's very enjoyable.
I prefer the Celestee if I'm listening to other genres other than what I mentioned above (rock can go either way) or music that is mastered well because it sounds more natural to my ears, with more accurate timbre with vocals and through the treble.
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